Dystopias (the opposite of utopias) are popular right now, whether you like The Hunger Games or Divergent. Here are three dystopian novels to come out recently, where the rich get the resources and the meek inherit the dirt.
Karl Taro Greenfeld's latest, The Subprimes, melds the ideas of ecological and economic dystopia seamlessly. Subprimes are people whose credit rating makes them ineligible for housing, respect from those in authority, or anything but the most menial, unstable jobs. Child labor and minimum wage laws have been repealed, as have all ecological protections. The result is a large, roving underclass trying to find the basic necessities of life, especially gasoline and water. Into this wades a woman known simply as Sargam, who helps mold the shantytown Valence into an oasis for subprimes. Opposed to her and the very idea of Valence are powerful oil interests and a multimedia evangelist in their pocket. Full of mocking references to right-wing buzzwords, this compulsively readable novel demonstrates that disregarding the environment and those not at the top of the economic ladder degrades us all.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood also looks at the degradation of the environment and humanity. Jimmy, who now calls himself Snowman, grew up in a gated community that metastasized into its own city and was best friends with Crake, a brilliant but emotionally distant bioengineer. Crake is responsible for a cataclysmic event that has Snowman abandoned in the pleeblands (where the less-fortunate majority lived) with only ravenous predators and Crake's human creations for company. Most of the novel is Snowman's recollections to his earlier life in the compound and his longing for Oryx, Crake's assistant and sexual abuse survivor. If you liked The Handmaid's Tale, this will be right up your alley. This is a very literate, immersive take on where we may be headed if our humanity does not catch up to our technology.
In The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi imagines an armed conflict between western states in the U.S. over the Colorado River. Angel makes sure his boss in Las Vegas has enough water for her lush, luxurious community, never mind that others are dying of thirst. When a new water source is rumored to exist in Phoenix, Angel is dispatched to look into it. He runs into Lucy, a hardbitten journalist, and Maria, a young refugee in a city that hates everything she represents. The three come to rely on each other, but water trumps all. This can be a disturbing, violent book, yet the characters are well-developed and the tone is lyrical.
Got a favorite dystopia? Tell us about it in the comment section.
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